SILVER CITY &GT;&GT; The Silver City Rotary Club gave $36,000 during Tuesday's luncheon to three Silver City nonprofit organizations. The three recipients are the Volunteer Center, Imagination Library and Literacy-Link Leamos. Each organization got $12,000 each.

"It's a pleasure of the Rotary to do this," former president of Rotary Kathy Eaton said. "We want to make life a little better for our future generations and our current ones."

Potential recipients can apply to receive the award money, which Rotary gives out every two years. This year was its fifth biennial fundraising event.

All of the money was raised during the 2014 Rotary Gala and Benefit Auction that took place April 26. About 250 people attended at the Grant County Business and Conference Center, where 17 area restaurants donated meals and 20 table and event sponsors also provided in-kind or financial support.

The tickets for that event were $20 a person. A silent and a live auction were held and various items were auctioned off, including a 12-day cruise.

Eaton said that Rotary chose the beneficiaries of the award money based on different things, but mainly, Rotary was looking for ways to make the biggest impact possible within the community.

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The Volunteer Center will use the money to build a greenhouse. Literacy-Link Leamos and Imagination Library will use the money primarily to purchase books for pre-school and school-age children, according to Eaton.